Let this be a lesson to all of you – you can’t believe everything you read on the internet. Vodafone NZ has tried to drum up excitement for the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play by claiming on Twitter that the entire shipment of phones was stolen. Turns out it was nothing more than a poorly thought out marketing stunt.
Yesterday, the company tweeted that the entire shipment of the Playstation branded Android smartphone was stolen:
regret to advise the Xperia Play launch will be delayed. Major security breach. The shipment of phones has been stolen
The telco then followed up by releasing some pretty dodgy security footage of the “thieves” in action:
But as it turns out, it was all a hoax, with Vodafone NZ spokesman Matthew East telling The Australian that it was a false claim made for marketing purposes.
As yet, there hasn’t been any official confirmation through public channels that the claim was a hoax, which can only be hurting the company more.
I wonder who approved the idea to use a public forum to lie to potential customers in the hope of drumming up some publicity?
[VodafoneNZ and The Australian]